Memories, the Fragmented Sea
by Garfield's Pooky
Summary: An original FF story. With betrayal and those fighting for selfish reasons about, a small group of young people venture to find their paths, which will undoubtedly entwine with one another. A quest for the crystals begins.


Disclaimer: (for entire story) I don't own anything Square-related...blah..blah, yeah. 

A/N: I've always tried to think of decent original FF stories, and even when I could come up with something, I'd never write it, heh. I've decided to write this one though (out of umm..maybe five I've come up with, lol). Yep, it's an original, though influenced by the older FFs with the whole crystal storyline and whatnot. Updates (if there are any..sadly) might be a lil slow cause I'm really lazy and/or not up to it. So I'm really sorry if you expect an update and I don't come up with one for another few months. X( Just a bit of a heads up so you know. Anyway, I hope you like what I came up with. :)

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**Memories, the Fragmented Sea**

Chapter 1

Two horses carrying one rider each galloped down a vast field towards the setting sun. The grassy plains were covered with green, rolling hills, but it was painted with a bright orange-violet hue as the sun sank in the horizon.

"Just a bit further, Reisa!" the leading rider called.

"Where are we going exactly?" she asked her white haired companion.

He laughed to himself, which she couldn't hear. "You'll see!" He sped up just for a moment until they began ascending a taller hill. Eventually, the hill's height blocked out the view of the plains, and he slowed down to a stop at the top. Reisa stopped several meters down the hill and dismounted her horse.

"Come up here," he told her as he dismounted his own horse, which was a great black horse. He praised his horse while he waited for Reisa to catch up. "..I can always count on you, Markkia.."

The incline made it a bit hard for her to walk up, but she managed. When she got within just a few meters from the top, she stopped and asked again, "What did you want to show me, Andreas?"

"Ok, just close your eyes for a while—until I tell you to open them."

Reisa shrugged and gave a smile. Then she did what he told her. Andreas gave out his hand to help her up to the top. "All right. Now look," he spoke to her and pointed out into the distance.

She opened her eyes, and her mouth dropped in awe at the beautiful sight. From left to right, horizon to sky—everywhere, it was all a beautiful thing to see. Off in the distance to the northwest was the setting sun with its rays waning along with it. The golden orange blanketed both land and sky. To the right was a small forest, which was the deep green of this painting. A small stream also ran right by the hill and zigzagged to a single point in the horizon, the water a sparkling sea. The nearby town was also visible from where they stood. Reisa rose her attention up to the sky. There were few clouds around, now a bit of a bright orange color. As she looked at the great vastness farther away from the sun, it changed subtly into a light purple color, then to a dark blue.

"This is really..pretty."

"I thought it'd be nice to show you this view. I mean, Dad lets you out of the castle into the city...but never out here in the fields."

"Thanks.." she told him. "Hey, what _did_ you tell them anyway?"

"That I'd take you out on some errand in the market or something," he replied in a matter-of-factly manner.

Reisa nodded, then laughed. She then sat down with her legs straight out in front of her. "This is kind of like how I felt when we first met."

"Really?" he asked, then sat next to her.

"A bit, yeah. I don't know. It's a nice feeling, a bit awkward, but very...passive," she tried to explain.

"Hah, Mom and Dad owe it to us," he said and laughed.

Reisa looked at him in a sort of questioning way. She had nice dark blue eyes. They weren't what you would say "beautiful" or "stunning", but they were always calm. No matter what expression her face showed, her eyes were like as though they always remained the same.

Andreas looked at her, eye-to-eye for a moment, which made him feel a bit awkward suddenly, so he turned back to the sunset. "If it weren't for us, they would never have met each other."

Reisa looked down and smiled. The both of them grew silent, and the wind blew past them. Andreas' light hair blew with it. Reisa had long, dark brown hair, so the breeze wasn't strong enough to really blow it. "I'm happy for them."

"..me too. Mother _was_ pretty upset when my dad left. I guess I wasn't happy living with him either. A decade or so might seem long...but it's nothing compared to a lifetime," Andreas spoke with a serious tone.

Reisa didn't have anything to say. She had her own mother, but everyone knows she died when she was still an infant, so she grew up without a mother until her father married Andreas' mother, which was a few years ago. Remembering that, Andreas took a quick look at his stepsister's face. He noticed she began to look a bit melancholy and mentally scolded himself.

"..I didn't..make you feel sad..or anything, did I?" he quickly asked.

"Oh," she spoke and looked at him, "that's not it. I was just lost in my thoughts."

Andreas nodded, relieved. In an attempt to liven up their conversation, he decided to joggle her memory up too. "Hey, can you remember that first time we ran into each other?"

"...sure," she slowly replied. "I was still 14, you were 15 and you were showing off your swordsmanship."

"Err...hah, yeah.." he agreed, a bit embarrassed.

"You were such an egomaniac."

"...I was?"

"Don't lie."

"..So ok, maybe I was a little. What else can you remember? It was just barely five years ago."

"You were also really nice," Reisa replied, changing from her previous teasing tone.

Andreas smiled and felt a bit bashful at her compliment.

"You were nice, but _really_ clumsy," she added and laughed. "Never did you watch where you were running, so you bumped into that woman with the her plate of food that landed all over me..."

"Ok, ok. So I was a little careless."

"So to apologize, you offered to take me to your home so your mom could help me change into clean clothes. See, I remember."

"You know those clothes she gave you?" he asked.

Reisa looked at him.

"I umm..Mom made me go out and buy new clothes.."

"So you used up some money.."

"Well..people gave me weird looks."

"Couldn't you have just said they were for you sister or something?"

"..." Andreas didn't reply.

"_And_ you were slow then as well. But then again, you'd think people would assume you _were_ buying those clothes for someone else.."

"Hey..it's pretty much dusk now, let's go," Andreas told her.

"Ok," Reisa replied and nodded. She walked over to her brother's horse and pet him a few times.

"Do you...like him, Reisa?" he asked.

"Markkia is a great horse. Better than any of the ones at the stables. He can even outrun the fastest chocobos.." she spoke while petting the horse.

"If you really like him that much, you can have him if you want."

Reisa's eyes widened from astonishment. "Are you serious? But he's—"

"A horse. I love him like a friend and you do too. If you like him so much, it might be better if he's yours, so I don't have to take him along when running errands. Markkia _would_ be safer back home in the stables," he explained. Andreas took his horse's rein and handed it to her. "He's yours."

Reisa took it almost reluctantly. It was true that Markkia was indeed a great horse, so she felt nearly guilty just accepting her brother's offer like that. She was still uneasy, but Andreas wouldn't leave until he was sure Reisa was happy about it. Finally, she gave him a smile. "Thanks. I'll..take good care of him. But you have to contribute."

"'Course I will," he replied and ran down the hill to the horse that Reisa rode. He jumped onto the saddle with ease and took off back to the city gates.

Reisa took a good look at Markkia's face—his eyes so deep. They almost felt human. She gave a real smile now, then got on, which proved slightly difficult since Markkia was taller than the other horses she ever rode and that she was wearing a dress. She noticed that Andreas was far up ahead by now and shook her head thinking something like _'that idiot'_, then took off. Markkia's speed was almost overwhelming. Reisa only rode on average horses on short distances so she never had to ride quickly; it took a while for her to get adjusted to it, but eventually she managed. After a while, it became very exhilarating with the wind rushing and whipping by. Reisa began to laugh.

_Markkia...you're awesome._

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A/N: I personally like how it turned out. Brother-sister bonding, heh. I know it seems too um...un..actiony or adventurous right now, but it'll get into those themes later. How would a Final Fantasy be a Final Fantasy without the action or adventure? I'm no fool! lol, it'd be nice if you guys could review. I like real comments though not those lousy one-liners like "Good job!" END..or "Continue!" END. Those are lame, but not restricted of course. I just don't like seeing them. Flames are welcome, but they have to be intelligent ones addressing your opinions. I hate it when people flame by just saying that the story is lame or stupid and that's all.

And if you didn't catch it (I know that there are those who are slow enough to actually MISS it) but Reisa and Andreas are _step-_siblings, not related by blood. Yes, it will matter somewhat later on. Got questions? Ask via review! If you want it classified, then ask for my email. So, yeah, review s'il vous plait! (dammit..now I've gotten French stuck in my head...curse you French 2! :)


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